Application for Grant Aid

Submitted on: 12 Sep 2011


Expedition details (GPF2011b-001)

Expedition Name (& Club): Shan Plateau (Myanmar) Expedition 2012
Destination country: Myanmar
Region:
Lat: 22.0000 Long: 98.0000 Elevation: m
MEF funding: Applying for MEF funding

Leader: Pete Talling
Total cavers: 8
Cavers ≤25 yrs old: 0
Cavers 25-35 yrs old: 0
UK/nonUK cavers: 7/1
Eligible for grant aid: 7
Alex Pitcher nominations: 0
Expedition dates: 23rd Dec 2011 - 15th Jan 2012
Duration (days): 24
Man-days in field: 192 Man-days travelling: 0
Brief Expedition objectives:

List a short summary of the main Expedition objectives.

1. Explore areas of the newly accessible karst plateau in eastern Myanmar. 2. Build on existing national, regional and local contacts with the aim of strengthening these in order to promote wider cave exploration in future years. 3. Work with Kunming University to obtain dateable stalagmite samples.
How can the GPF support your Expedition?:

Please explain the aspects of the trip which make it eligible for Ghar Parau funding.

Detailed description of objectives:

Give a more detailed account of the purpose of the trip, including any particular known caves you intend to visit, specific areas where you will explore for new cave, and scientific experiments you will attempt.

The Permo-Triassic carbonates of the Shan Plateau of Eastern Myanmar extend for hundreds of kilometres (Oo et al, 2002). This area is slowly becoming more accessible for cavers, providing appropriate permissions are in place. Nonetheless we expect to be the first western cavers to visit some locations. During the 2012 expedition, we plan to visit and explore two areas described below: The 2011 expedition passed through Ywangan Township, close to the border between the Southern Shan State and Mandalay Division, and observed a karstic landscape with significant depth potential (up to 1400m). This area has been described by Middlemiss (1900) as containing “innumerable caves and passages beneath the ground” where “absorption of the rainfall carries off nearly all surface water, a great deal of which is probably led away by underground river systems”. We plan to stay in this area for up to ten days and locate and explore caves. This area is freely accessible to foreigners but special permits will be required to stay locally in the Township. The second area we plan to visit is in the vicinity of Lashio in the Northern Shan State. During 2011 we made contact with the Director of Immigration for the state and with his assistance visited a small number of caves to the north near Kutkai and identified a major resurgence cave near E-nai to the north and west of Lashio. The Director was extremely helpful to the expedition and has promised further assistance in 2012. It is anticipated that permission will be granted to stay in the local villages near E-nai while exploring the resurgence and other local caves. This is highly significant as poor infrastructure makes these localities remote and it is highly unusual for foreign visitors to be granted such permissions. Therefore building on this key contact is seen as a major aim of the expedition. We have also been told of a karstic area around Tang Yan to the south and east of Lashio, in the mountains above the Salween River. This area is expected to have significant limestone thicknesses. We plan to spend up to 10 days in the area around Lashio, with precise itinerary to be determined based on local permissions that can only be obtained within the State. National permits will be required to visit many of these locations as they are normally closed to foreign visitors. The 2012 expedition will benefit from involvement of Professor Liu Hong of Kunming University who is an expert karst scientist. He is well known to the expedition team from previous collaborative expeditions to Yunnan in South West China. We will collect stalagmite samples that can be dated using U-Th, in order to better understand the onset of the monsoon in eastern Myanmar. Recent work of this type has made major advances in understanding monsoon onset and dynamics in western China, and their effects on human populations. Sample collection and processing will be led by Liu Hong, who has previously been unable to access these areas of Myanmar. Our experience to date indicates that suitable samples will be abundant in Myanmar, and Middlemiss (1900) specifically records the presence of speleothems in the Ywangan area.
Previous work in this area:

Give details of any previous work in this area by your own and other teams. Include references to reports and articles published on the area, and the names of any local cavers or academics with whom you have discussed the Expedition.

It has previously proven problematic to have access to areas in Myanmar for caving expeditions, and very few expeditions have ever visited the eastern and northern parts of the country (Laumanns, 2010). After securing access through a high-level contact in the Tourism Promotion Board, a small 3 person reconnaissance in Southern Myanmar was organised by Joerg Dreybrodt (Price, 2010). This led directly to two 3-week reconnaissance expeditions with just 4-to-6 people in 2010 and 2011. Rowsell, Loveridge, Densham and Talling were part of those expeditions, which initially explored areas to the east of Taunggyi in the Southern Shan State. The 2011 expedition also identified and made brief visits to new areas of karst in the Northern Shan State. The strong links with the State Immigration Department made on this expedition will allow the 2012 expedition to more fully explore in these areas.

Expedition Finances

Travel

Travel plans:
It is not possible to fly directly from the UK to Myanmar and therefore the team travelling from the UK plan to enter the country via Thailand. Internal flights must then be taken from the International hub at Yangon to reach the Shan States via the regional airport at Heho. Independent travel within Myanmar is possible if the itinerary is restricted to the major tourist routes. However, travel to remote and restricted areas is not possible without a guide and private transport. This is a major expense for the expedition, but as well as allowing for efficiency when travelling on poor infrastructure, the use of a guide has proved invaluable when negotiating local permissions and hence maximizing the effectiveness of the expeditions. It has also allowed us to understanding and respect local religious sites, as many caves are also temples and can be sites of pilgrimage, Previous expeditions, carried out with a single pick up truck, have laid a basis for now increasing caver numbers to the capacity of two vehicles.


# from UK: 7 Travel costs breakdown (for personnel leaving from the UK):
Total costs from UK: £9,520 International flights: £800 per person from the UK
Internal flights: £110 per person
£100 per day for each vehicle and guide (total £3600)
Assumes two vehicles and guides to allow two independent parties;

# from outside UK: 1 Travel costs breakdown (for personnel leaving from the UK):
Total costs from outside UK: £760 £200 per person from China

Travel total: £10,280 Travel p.p. from UK: £1,360
Travel p.p. from outside UK: £760

Subsistence

Total: £2,880 Comments:
Subsistence p.p.: £360 £20 per person per day
In country expenses include for average rates for foreigner licensed hotels based on previous expeditions. Provided national and local permissions are granted to stay in villages then this cost should reduce.

Gear

Total: £0 Comments:
Gear p.p.: £0
Exped Total: £13,160 Exped cost p.p. travelling from UK: £1,720
Exped cost p.p. travelling from outside UK: £1,120
Mean Exped cost per person: £1,645

Other Funding

Total: £0 Comments:
Total shortfall: £0 Mean shortfall per person: £0

Referees and Report

Please give the names, addresses and phone numbers of two suitably qualified people whom the Committee can contact. You should ensure that they are aware of the objectives of your trip, and that you have their permission for the Committee to contact them.

Referee 1: Hilary Greaves
Affiliation:

Reason: Expedition leader to adjacent areas in Yunnan

Permission obtained?: No
Referee 2: Erin Lynch
Affiliation:

Reason: Hong Meigui founder and Editor of Speleology

Permission obtained?: No

Expedition report author:

Attachments

No files have been attached to this application.